


This wasn’t the one.

by Tammiie



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: BAMF Natasha Romanov, BAMF Peter Parker, BAMF Shuri (Marvel), BAMF Tony Stark, Bucky Barnes Is a Good Bro, Bucky Barnes is done, Canon Divergence - Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), F/M, Genius Peter Parker, Hurt Peter Parker, Identity Reveal, Loki (Marvel) Does What He Wants, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, M/M, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Peter Parker Acts Like a Spider, Peter Parker and Bucky Barnes Bromance, Peter Parker is a Little Shit, Peter Snaps, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Precious Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Protective Peter Parker, Science Bros, Sentient Infinity Stones (Marvel), Social Media, Steve Rogers Is a Good Bro, Steve Rogers and the 21st Century, Stony - Freeform, Superfamily (Marvel), They Really Really Love Each Other, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Is Done, Tony is done with Peter’s shit, Well just the soul stone, and Bucky is done with Steve’s shit, but Steve is done with Tony’s shit, fuck thanos, he has more powers than he does in the movies, natasha is done with all of them, one armed bro, steve roger is done
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:36:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25537441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tammiie/pseuds/Tammiie
Summary: The one where the Avengers win but it wasn’t the future Doctor Strange saw.So what changed?
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Thor, James "Bucky" Barnes/Peter Parker, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 16
Kudos: 363
Collections: Spider-Man Public Identity Reveal





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have been wanting to do this au for so long but kept putting it off for some reason but now the time has finally come.

Five years.

Five years.

That’s how long Peter had been dust for.

Five years.

He thinks about his aunt May, Ned and Mj even Harry who he hadn’t spoken to in years even before Thanos and the snap that decimated half the universe.

He left them, he was gone, so he couldn’t protect them. Peter blatantly ignores the chance that they could have been dusted too. He doesn’t want to think about them alone wondering the strange orange world like he was.

Had.

“Kid, it’s time to go” There’s a hand on his shoulder and for a second Peter thinks… he lets himself believe that it might be Mr Stark. But then he looks up and see’s the other Peter, the older one who said he was from Missouri.

And Peter remembers that Mr Stark is back on Earth where he lived the last five years without him.

Without Peter.

The older Peter nudges him along to where Doctor strange has opened one of his sparking portal glowly things and steps through without looking back.

With what greets him in the other side he almost wishes he had.

Five years.

Five years.

That’s how long Peter had been dust for.

Five years.

Tony thinks that a lot has changed in five years, he has a daughter now and they had just celebrated her fifth birthday.

Peter.

If Peter had been there it would have been his twenty-first birthday. Finally the adult he so desperately wanted to be. Instead when Tony sees him next he’s still going to look sixteen, he will still be sixteen.

It was an ironic twist that fate had Morgan’s and Peter’s birthdays on the same day. Tony thinks it’s a blessing and a curse because he’s never as sad as he would be if Peter’s was on a different day but he’s never as happy as he would be if Morgan’s was on another day.

He feels like a crap father when he can’t be there hundred percent for Morgan on her special day. But he knows that even though she’s sad, she understands why, there was never a chance in any universe where Tony wouldn’t tell her about her big brother Peter.

Because Tony knows Peter would have treated her like his little sister, looked out for her, protected her. He would have been an amazing big brother.

He will be an amazing big brother.

Even when he couldn’t be there he protected Morgan, she sleeps with a spider-man plushie underneath spider-man quilts, with a picture of Peter by her bedside looking after her; scaring away all the monsters with a spider-man night-light shining away.

There is a brief pause in the chaos of battle where Peter and Tony just stare at each other, before Peter is rumbling away like nothing has changed, like it hasn’t been five years since they last seen each. Like he hadn’t died in Tony’s arms pleading with Tony, to save him.

Like Tony hadn’t failed him.

Tony lets a breath and all but drags Peter into his arms, he clutches him close and has no intentions of letting him go ever again.

Having Morgan soften him, sue me he thinks to himself.

Peter finally stops talking and relaxes into his hold like he never wants to leave and let’s out a happy sigh.

And in that moment Tony knows, he feels it so whole heartedly, deeply that this kid is his.

“This is nice” Peter whispers and immediately proceeds to ruin the moment by saying “I guess we’re there now”

Tony lets out a chuckle and let’s Peter go. They’ve got a war to win after all.

Peter almost reaches out to pull Mr Stark back into a hug before he manages to stop himself he definitely did make grabby hands to him though.

And if it wasn’t the middle of a battle, Peter would definitely be embarrassed by that but as it was an explosion goes off next to them before Peter even has the time to think about.

He and Mr Stark part ways, running back into the thick of it.

It’s only ten minutes later but Peter’s sure it’s been hours when another explosion goes off and he’s thrown to the ground clutching at the huge gauntlet in his hands.

He knows he can’t let go off it.

It would be very very bad if he did.

So he holds on tighter as even more explosions go on and he feels the weight of someone throwing themselves over him and pulling him out of the way as a missile explodes just where he was.

He turns, to see the winter soldier one hand clutching a gun the other around Peter and gives the man a nod thanks before they too part ways.

It’s five minutes after that and again to Peter it feels like hours when he is almost overwhelmed by the weird aliens he can’t remember the name of and hears a shout of “Queens!”

Peter looks over to see Captain America throwing mjolnir his way, he reaches out to grab hold as it passes him and for a second nothing happens and Peter is almost crushed before the hammer lifts him up and carries him away.

When the time comes Peter is downright happy to pass the gauntlet over to Captain Marvel, how he managed to hold onto it for so long he will never know.

There’s a lull in the fighting once more where Peter catches Mr Starks eye again and just as he looks away his Spidey sense kicks into high gear.

It almost sends him to the ground in a sensory overload, Peter can barely concentrate to figure out what is wrong and given that his Spidey sense has naturally been a dull ache ever since he came back from being dust whatever it is most be really really bad.

It’s at that moment that he catches Doctor Strange’s and Mr Starks exchange out of the corner of his eye.

And Peter knows, he just knows what’s about to happen next.

So he pushes his enhanced body to it’s limits like he’s never done before to point where he’s running so fast he’s practically flying.

Still he’s too slow from stopping Tony getting the gauntlet off Thanos but not too slow to use the distraction of Thanos realising he doesn’t have the stones anymore to take them from Tony.

And the moment he does he almost regrets it.

Almost but not quite.

Tony immediately wanted to go back to Peter the second they spilt ways and keep an eye on him but the battlefield was too chaotic and Tony only catches sparse glimpses of him now and again.

He’s never fought so hard before in his life, probably because he never really had anything to fight for.

Now he has Morgan and Peter.

So he fights even harder until he can’t fight anymore. He’s just a about to give up, sure that there’s nothing left in him to give anymore when he and Peter next catch eyes.

And suddenly he gets up, his energy renewed. Ready to give every last atom and cell of his body til he’s nothing when he catches Strange looking at him, holding up one finger.

And Tony knows, he just knows what’s about to happen next.

And he knows that last look he shared with Peter will always be the last.

He knows he’s going to die.

With the last of his energy he falls into the Titan in what seems like a last ditch attempt the whole battlefield holds their breath but it’s a distraction Tony hold on to the gauntlet and waits for the nanobots to transfer the gauntlet to him and then lets go.

The Titan laughs, sure in his victory.

Tony feels pain like he never has before.

Suddenly the pain is gone.

“… I am inevitable” and he snaps.

The whole battlefield let’s out a breath when they realise nothing happen and they look to Tony suddenly scared.

But he’s panicking and looking at Peter, at his son.

When the pain he felt the instance the gauntlet was on him gone, Tony knew he just knew that somehow Peter was responsible. So he looks to where he saw him last but he’s not there he’s beside Tony.

Standing tall.

Head held high.

He’s never seen him so determined before.

Nor so scared.

And Tony doesn’t know if he should be proud, scared or angry.

“Pete…” he lets out brokenly, already reduced to heart wenching sobs because he knows he just knows what’s about to happen next.

Peter’s going to die.

Peter feels pain like he has never felt pain before.

Not even when he was forced to feel every single one of his cells tear apart only to stitch themselves up again as his healing factor kicked in over and over again.

Not when aunt May and uncle Ben sat him down and told him his parents weren’t ever coming back.

Not when he held uncle Ben’s dying bleeding body in his arms.

Nor when he sobbed over Gwen’s broken corpse.

That was nothing compared to what he was going through now, he almost wishes he could go through all of that again just to avoid this pain.

Nevertheless he’s spider-man no matter what he always gets back up again. So he stands tall.

With his head held high.

He’s never been so determined before.

Nor so scared.

He wonders if his parents would be proud of him, maybe angry, definitely scared.

He turns to Mr Stark as he hears a broken “Pete” fall from his lips and then Peter snaps his fingers.

“Peter nooooooooo!” Tony screams, the whole battlefield eerily quiet as Thanos’ army fades into dust one by one.

Tony has no time to celebrate the win as he races to catch Peter before he falls. He hits the ground limp just as Tony gets there.

Once again failing to catch him as he falls.

He lets out a quiet sob that is somehow heard by everyone and slowly they tickle around him and Peter. Tony pays them no mind trying to keep Peter’s attention on him, trying to keep him awake.

“Peter Benjamin Parker if you dare die on me again I’m so telling Aunty May”

Peter lets out a weak laugh at that, it brings a smile to everyone’s face.

But then he gives out a spluttering cough and his eyelids begin to close. Tony turns to Bruce (sorry Professor Hulk) “Get some medical attention here now!” he demands, Bruce just stares unsure if Tony knows the uselessness of that demand, it wouldn’t do the kid any help.

“Bruce now!” Shouts Tony, Bruce nods his mind made up, if it keeps him calm then, Bruce will help. He turns to Strange and T’challa they can take the kid to Wakanda, they nod and plan is put into motion but just as he’s about to pick the kid up he opens his eyes again.

For a second he’s just staring blankly ahead before he turns Tony and looks him the eye and asks “Have you ever felt that moment when you know with ever fibre of your being that you were going to die and there was nothing not a single thing you could do to change that”

The whole battlefield inhales, shocked at just came out of this kids mouth.

Suddenly the whole situation is that much more heart-wenching.

“Yes” Tony whispers.

“No. No you haven’t I have. I felt it when we were on Titan. I felt that moment where everything changed. I felt as my body tore itself apart just to be put back together again. Everyone else was the lucky one they didn’t feel. They were gone in an instance. I wasn’t. I felt as my body fought death, as time went on I felt it get weaker, felt it break down until it lost the battle. Until I was nothing, until I felt nothing and then I was gone to.”

Bruce looks around there’s not a dry face too see, everyone is heartbroken. Scared.

In awe of this small teenage boy.

“So no you haven’t, you might know, you might acknowledge but you don’t feel. I don’t feel it now either.”

And with that Peter closes his eyes.


	2. Surprise!!!!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Unbeknownst to the avengers and co since the moment Peter snapped his fingers there was a news helicopter over ahead recording everything that was happening.

As it was they were too busy watching the scene ahead of them to pay much thought to look up.

If they had they would of thought to cover Peter as he had long shed his mask.

And as spider-man took his last breath, they took a knee.

Hands over their heart.

Heads bowed.

As they paid respect to the fallen avenger.

And he was an avenger, it doesn’t matter that it was never official, that the team was broken up when he came onto the scene.

It doesn’t matter that he never went on a mission with them.

This battle was enough. The fact that he died for them was enough.

That he died for the world.

For the universe it was enough.

Steve stands and moves to take the kid from Tony, he was the closest to Peter he shouldn’t have to do this Steve thinks so he takes the burden on himself, not that it’s really one more of an honour.

So Captain America picks up Spider-Man and carries him off the battlefield, his limp body in his arms. The avengers stoically following beside him.

And the helicopter sure that it’s seen everything there is to see turns and flies away.

By the time Steve has carried Peter to edge where the compound once stood and laid him down where there’s no longer any debris digging into the poor kid the footage had circulated all on going and active news outlets and by the end of the day it would have been watched by the entire world.

Peter was scared, ever since the spider bite his senses had been dialled to 11, his world washed with colour, sounds and smells now he couldn’t sense anything.

It was almost like he was back in that place.

The weird orange place he went after he was dust.

And devoid of any other sense Peter opened his eyes.

Only to see that he was back in that place, as far as he could see (which was pretty far with his enhanced sight) there was orange nothing but orange and let’s not forget the dust.

That brings back delightful memories he thinks to himself.

Peter begins to wonder like he did when he first enter this world five years ago knowing that he could walk for years and nothing would change.

He walks until something does change, he sees an androgynous figure in the distant.

Peter walks up to figure curious.

They turn as Peter comes within touching distance of them, and he knows, he doesn’t know how but he knows that this is the human form of the soul stone.

How a stone seemingly has a human body Peter doesn’t know.

He flies the information away to figure out another day right now he’s more curious as to why he can suddenly see the stone in this form when he never did before.

So Peter asks. “Why can I see you?” The figure stares for a moment “because you opened your mind”

Peter doesn’t know what that means but he can guess so he asks another question. “Why I’m I here?” Again the figure stares as if judging him, seeing if he’s worth the answer.

“Because you’re in pain”

He doesn’t feel as though he’s pain but he doesn’t want to argue with an all powerful sentient stone. “When can I leave?” he asks instead.

“When you’re no longer in pain”

At this point Peter’s patience is wearing thin so he argues “but I don’t feel any pain” 

“Because you’re here, if you were to leave before you heal and stop feeling pain you would die”

Glad they’re finally getting somewhere Peter nods.

“Why didn’t I die?, I should be dead” The figure sighs

“You’re body is healing the damage done by you wielding the gauntlet quicker than it’s killing you”

Peter’s confused, his healing factor isn’t that good he should still be dead.

“The pain would of killed you before you even finished healing, but because you’re here you don’t feel pain so your body can concentrate on the actual problem instead of just the symptoms of the problem.

That to Peter as a scientist makes sense, his healing factor isn’t being spilt so it can concentrate all its energy into one area.

Peter still wants to leave. 

His arm begins to itch.

It itches even more, so Peter looks down.

And keeps looking until he can’t anymore, his arm is rotting away, like he’s a decomposing corpse.

“You are in a way, your arm is dying to stop the damage spreading and in its place a new one will grow”

Peter thought mind reading was an affect of the mind stone not soul. The figure rises an eyebrow in judgement.

He also thinks that growing a new arm is creepy at least he won’t turn into a lizard like Dr Connors.

Being part spider has it perks Peter thinks to himself, although he never thought limb regrowth would be one of them.

Spiders do have eight legs, limbs really and Peter only has four.

But does that mean he could only really regrow his limbs four times, until technically he has eight limbs?

“I want to leave” Peter states 

“When you leave is entirely up to you Peter, I would suggest though before you do so that you find the others”

And just like that the figure leaves.

And Peter continues to walk.

He stops walking, what others? he thinks to himself.

Tony stares at Peter through the glass window installed in the cytogenetic chamber they placed him in.

The others wanted him in there, to preserve his body for the funeral they argued. But before that can happen the world needs fixing, Peter isn’t their priority but he’s Tony’s.

People are displaced, scared and didn’t know what was going on. The avengers need to be there for the public they argued.

Tony understood that, he just didn’t care.

And then Steve comes saying that “there’s footage of the battle…. Everyone saw… Spider-Man, everyone knows it’s Peter…. They know he’s…”

That Tony does care about so he gets his lawyers and Pepper on it, his eyes never leaving Peter’s.

Pepper and Steve tell him a press conference needs to happen tomorrow at the latest before too much false information spreads, but Tony doesn’t feel like speaking, like seeing anyone so they compromise the conference will happen but a week from now when Tony is feeling better.

He thinks he will never feel better.

His son just died.

Again.

So he keeps staring at Peter through the glass window.

No one knows it but putting Peter in a cytogenetic chamber was the best thing they could of done for him because it shuts down his body and puts it into hibernation, so it doesn’t need to waste the energy it has stored away on everyday functions and can just concentrate on healing.

They don’t know this because they think he’s dead.

Peter keeps on walking until something changes and he see’s another figure in the distance and he knows just like he knew with the soul stone that this figure was Gamora daughter of Thanos.

Peter walked up to her but unlike with the stone she’s didn’t sense when he was near so he reached out and tapped her on the shoulder. She startles but turns to face him.

“Peter” she’s breathes out.

“How do you know my name” He asks, thinking belatedly that maybe she was thinking of the other Peter, the older one.

“I just know, just like you know my name”

Peter realises she’s thinking of him not the other Peter from Missouri.

“Just like I know you’re going to get us out of here”

So Peter takes her and they keep on walking until something changes.

They were walking for hours before the find another figure and they knew just knew that this was Natasha Romanoff, the black widow.

She turns as they reach her and she smiles.

“Ready to get out of here little ńayk”

Peter nods and takes her hand and the three of them continue to walk until something something changes.

And when it does Peter isn’t in any pain anymore.

Steve had only just managed to convince Tony to get some sleep in the quest quarters T’challa had given them when alarms started blaring down the palace.

Steve almost ignored them until Shuri came running into the room.

It’s Peter! He’s alive! He just woke up.” The princess exclaimed in disbelief and she race back out of the room. Tony immediately goes to follow but Steve is stuck in disbelief.

People don’t just come back from the dead.

Steve comes back to himself with Tony’s shout of “Peter!” That he’s pretty sure was heard all the way to Alaska and races towards the lab where cytogenetic chamber is knowing the way from both Peter’s and Bucky’s stay in there.

Once he’s there he finds the rest of the avengers in the room all clustered by one corner.

“What’s going on” he asks Bucky the first to notice he was in room, Bucky just points to the corner and then up ate the celling.

When he looks up he spots Peter hanging onto the celling like well like a spider, hissing at anyone who comes close. Even Tony

Steve thinks it’s a little creepy. And he swears he even sees Clint with a broom waving it at the kid.

Bucky lets out a sigh from next to him and steps forwards. “You all need to back off, you’re scaring him, right now his body is in fight or flight mode if you don’t stop crowding him he will fight and probably win to”

Tony’s just about to argue back when Peter starts to speak out of nowhere, although Steve’s not really sure what comes out of his mouth is words so much as it’s a lot of hissing.

“Metal arm man right, I fight you, I win. But he wrong spider not scared.”

“Omg that’s hilarious” Clint manages to get out between huffs of laugher.

Suddenly Peter jumps down onto Clint and knocks him out.

The others slowly back away. Very very scared all of a sudden.

He probably would win, never mind that is outnumbered fourteen to one while thirteen excluding Clint.

Peter takes a step towards them but stops with one foot hovering over the other and just like whatever demon was possessing the boy is gone.

“Guys why is Mr Clinton hawkeye Barton sir on the floor?

The avengers let out a loud laugh.

Peter just stands there confused before looking around the room he’s eyes landing on Bucky. Peter stares at Bucky’s arm, realising he still has his, the damaged dying one and he knows for him to fully heal he needs to get rid of it. To stop the damage from spreading.

The soul stone said a new one would grow.

“Get rid of it” Peter says suddenly.

Everyone stops and stares at him.

“Get rid of what underoos?” Tony asks 

Peter points to Bucky and says “My arm, get rid of my arm”

Tony lets out a disbelieving snort.

“We’re not getting rid of your arm, Just because you think having a metal one would be cool”

Peter shakes his head, hurt that that’s what Tony would think.

“No my arm is dying, you need to get rid of it to stop the damage from spreading, it’s stopping me from healing fully”

“Kid we can’t just do that type of surgery out of nowhere, we need to prep and we would need your aunts permission” Tony argues back.

“You would if I was normal but I’m not so we can do it now” Peter states glaring at Tony.

At this point the other avengers really really wanted to leave the room but both Tony and Peter were standing in front of the door.

“What’s that supposed to mean Parker” Tony says not quite yelling yet.

“I didn’t choose the name Spider-Man for shits and giggles, my DNA is literally half of that of a spiders”

“Gross I knew that stuff was coming out of you” pipes up Sam, completely ignoring the tense atmosphere in the room. 

Peter smirks at Sam and decides to have a little fun by not correcting him.

Suddenly Sam is afraid very very afraid.

“So?” asks Tony bringing everyone back to the point at hand.

“So, spiders have eight limbs I only have four”

For a world renowned genius Tony really wasn’t getting it evidenced as he once again asks “so?” 

Peter let out a put upon sigh, making a few of the avengers laugh.

“You chop it off, it will grow back” Peter smirks 

“What the hell Parker?!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know if you’ve figured out the clue yet it will be revealed in the next chapter.


	3. The trickster.

_Previously on This wasn’t the one._

“I didn’t choose the name Spider-Man for shits and giggles; my DNA is literally half of that of a spider”

“Gross I knew that stuff was coming out of you” pipes up Sam, completely ignoring the tense atmosphere in the room. Peter smirks at Sam and decides to have a little fun by not correcting him. Suddenly Sam is afraid very very afraid.

“So?” asks Tony bringing everyone back to the point at hand.

“So, spiders have eight limbs I only have four”

For a world-renowned genius Tony really wasn’t getting it evidenced as he once again asks “so?” 

Peter let out a put-upon sigh, making a few of the avengers laugh.

“You chop it off, it will grow back” Peter smirks

“What the hell Parker?!”

#

Peter felt a little weird when he woke up, I mean instinctively he knew he no longer had his left arm even without looking, it was like he was experiencing a lost his body didn’t quite know how to deal with. He was in pain, but not really at the same time, he guesses that’s what phantom pain feels like. When you’re not actually in any pain but your brain is misfiring confusing thinking that you are, so hurt even they injury that supposed to hurting isn’t there anymore

Spooky.

He also feels as though his arm is gluing itself together, after completely tearing itself apart, a little like how it felt when he had been snapped and then brought back. His thoughts and head was a bit hazy and unclear, similar to how it gets when one of his sensory overloads come one and he _really_ doesn’t want to go through one of those when he already feels like shit.

He might actually die _for real_ this time.

The first thing that he notices, other than the pain that he was growing through was numerous heartbeats all around him; it sound as if the whole team was huddled around his bed, which would exactly be a _surprise_. The team is understandably a bit co-dependent at this time and whenever one of them gets hurts the rest always gravitate around that person until they’re better. Which is fine when it’s someone other than him that has to suffer through all the hovering and mother henning.

As he honed onto the different heartbeats trying to find Mr Stark’s he noticed none of them was his which leaves Peter confused as every time he has been hurt enough to need the medbay he has woken up to the tell-tale smell of coffee and motor oil that lingered on his surrogate father and the sweet flowery scent of aunt May’s favourite perfume.

“Quill?” a rough voice asked. “Shut the fuck up!”

That had to be Bucky he had the mouth of a sailor when he actually bothered to speak, he glared mostly though which honestly scared Peter a little bit at first than he had gotten to know the man and found out he was a giant cuddly teddy bear underneath it all.

A cinnamon roll, really.

“Get lost, cyborg” A higher more feminine voice answered presumably Quill replied. “Like you know any more than I do”

Peter thought this might be an appropriate place to announce that he was awake before a fight broke out between the two. It wouldn’t be the first time it had happen, to say they got along like a house on fire would be a huge overstatement and a complete lie.

They _hated_ each other.

“Where’s the guy with a goatee” that had to be Mister Stark, right? That the other Peter was talking? Or maybe it could be the Strange guy? Peter wondered as he knows that Mister Stark wouldn’t leave him if even if he had just scraped a knee. The reply to the question was lost as everyone began the notice that he was now awake, since everyone saw he was now up Peter opened his eyes blinking rapidly in order to adjust to the new light and sat up, clutching his still throbbing head, and looked around. His gaze landed on Steve Rogers, Captain America! Peter was most definitely _not_ internally fanboying, nope not at all.

“Good, to see you awake Queens” The man said when, their eyes connected, nope Peter was not fanboying, especially not over the fact that the original avenger had a nick name for him. _WAS NOT_ fanboying!

Everything in his life had lost all meaning, none it mattered as the moment right now did and okay maybe he was fanboying just a _little._ There was Captain America right in front of him, Peter that this wasn’t the first time they had met and even interreacted, but it was the first time he wasn’t being distracted by a million other things and could actually begin to comprehend what was happening.

Strange was looking at Peter weirdly, his hands folding on top of the end of his bed, the scars that Strange had once told him he got in a car accident more obvious under the harsh lighting of the room they were in. “You alright, kid?”

“What?” Peter looked up at the man distractedly, shaking his head as if to clear it “Oh, um yeah, I’m fine. Just where is Mr Stark?”

“Your aunt arrived; he went to catch her up before they came back into the room.” The man answered steadily, his attention already held elsewhere as he made to leave the room. He was never good with a lot of people in the room, Peter thinks it has more to do with the fact that he doesn’t really like any of them than any anxiety he may have like would be the case with Peter.

Nobody said anything, so Strange gave a short nod bye, opened one of his yellow portal things and stepped through before he left though he turned back to Peter and said “When you’re back home, swing by the sanctum we need to talk. Your father knows where it is.” He nodded his head in agreement, what the doctor wanted to talk about that they couldn’t just talk here and now.

“So, when’s the arm going to grow back?”

“…”

“Clint!” The captain scolded “we have to be sensitive to Peter’s pain, it must have been a hard decision to make”

Peter wasn’t all that upset by the bird themed avenger comment, he the soul stone didn’t lie to him about the arm growing back, if it wasn’t going to maybe he would be more upset, but he isn’t, so he cuts across whatever the man’s reply was going to be.

“I actually don’t know, never regrown a limb before.” It was at this moment he knew he had _fucked up_ , as Mr Stark walked in with his aunt in tow who by the look on her face had heard her nephew’s last comment.

“What the fuck Peter!”

“…”

“…”

“Heeeeey, aunt May you’re looked very pretty today” From beside his aunt he could see Mr Stark roll his eyes and bring his face into palm in what was an exasperated face palm.

#

Gamora and the lady she was with Natasha she had found out when they were wondering the orange landscape trying to find a way out were currently in a staring with the red-faced man who was there when Thanos had first brought her here however long ago. Natasha had informed her that he was named red skull- rather apt Gamora had thought; apparently one of her new friends’ fellow warriors had quiet a bit of a history with the guardian. He had also once upon a time been in possession of the tesseract- the mind stone but he had been driven mad with power as he experimented with it until Natasha’s warrior friend had taken it and crashed into an ocean.

“No one has come back from being sacrificed before, you must have some extremely powerful friends”

Gamora didn’t know how to answer that, she guessed Quill could be considered powerful or at least before the Killed his father and as a result Quill lost his newfound powers but none of her other friends were all that powerful when compared to the immense unquantifiable power of the soul and the rest of the infinity stones.

In fact, they were quite weak in comparison.

“The avengers will always face the odds to beat the impossible, it was the whole reason we were formed in the first place” Natasha replied.

“Do you know how we can get back to earth” she continued on and asked, something which Gamora was ashamed to admit she did not think about, she had just assumed that Peter was coming for the them. The other one not stupid Quill. Being what amounted to a ritual sacrifice had really messed with her mind, she was acting as dumb witted as the rest of her team did on a regular basis. Maybe around Quill had finally rubbed off, she thought she could always feel herself lose more and more braincells every time they interacted.

“There are many doorways to other planets hidden throughout the cosmos if you know where to look, they are not all that hard to find” Came the vague and not all that helpful reply.

“And where would be look?” Gamora asks, speaking for the first time since they came back from the soul world.

“She speaks. I am sure the trickster can help you find the way if you ask nicely.”

That didn’t help clear things up at all, who the hell was the trickster?

**Author's Note:**

> Haha you guys probably hate me now but don’t worry there’s something in there that gives you a hint to a better ending. A light at the end of the tunnel.
> 
> Let me know when you guys find it.
> 
> I’ll give you a hint it’s towards the end of the chapter


End file.
